


Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the Sky

by antiquatedgirl



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Crime Fighting, Eventual Romance, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-02 23:14:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12736275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antiquatedgirl/pseuds/antiquatedgirl
Summary: In my heart I believe that Emily and Spencer are meant to be together, these outtakes from after the episodes are how they got together. Some dialog from the show is used but most of the content is original. This story is still on-going and I am not sure how far I will write for it. I do have an original case for our team, will everyone make it out alive?(Also posted on Wattpad under a different username)





	1. Minimal Loss-Paradise

The pitch black night sky was lit up by the roaring fire from the explosion, the lights flashing from the different emergency vehicles, ambulances to deal with the injured, fire trucks attempting to stem the fire, cop cars. The noise level was incredible as well, the dull roar of the fire, the thump-thump-thump of the news helicopters blades, police radios going off every couple of minutes. Emily didn’t hear it though, she could barely focus as the EMT patched her up, they kept insisting that she should go to the hospital. She didn’t want to go. Another EMT was checking out Morgan and Reid, she was so glad they were alive. When the bomb had gone off and she thought they had been killed along with that poor child she thought she was going to collapse. Seeing them stumble out of the wreckage had made her heart feel like it was going to burst with emotion. Hotch walked over to her and asked the EMT,

     “How is she?” 

     “She’s pretty banged up, lots of bruises, possible rib fractures. I want to take her to the hospital but she insists that she’s fine.”

     “The other EMT wants Agent Morgan and Agent Reid to go to the hospital as well so I’ll see if I can convince her to go along.”

New fear caught Emily’s throat,

     “Why do they want Morgan and Reid to go to the hospital? I thought they were alright!”

     “Calm down Emily, they will be alright. The EMT wants them to be treated for smoke inhalation and there’s some concern that Reid might have a concussion but nothing too serious. They’re worried about you, would you go to the hospital please? That way you can all be looked over before we go home.”

Tears ran down Emily’s cheeks from exhaustion and she nodded, 

     “Alright, I’ll go.”

Hotch grasped her shoulder and then the EMT’s started loading her into the back of the ambulance. 

     “I’ll see you at the hospital Emily.”

She nodded, her eyes focusing on Reid and Morgan also getting in the back of an ambulance, they weren’t on a stretcher like she was and they were going to be allowed to sit up for the ride to the hospital. Emily grimaced as a deep breath made her ribs ache, she supposed it was a good thing that she agreed to go to the hospital, what if she had a broken rib? She lay back and closed her eyes, a headache was forming from stress and she didn’t think the lights would have made it any better.

***********

     “Emily’s agreed to go to the hospital as well so we’ll meet you there. Behave for the EMT’s Morgan.” Rossi demanded, a chuckle escaped the EMT working on cleaning the cut on Reid’s forehead before Rossi shut the doors to the back of the ambulance. Reid hissed from the burn of the antibacterial wash and said,

     “Agent Rossi is not joking. Agent Morgan is notorious for disobeying medical personels  orders.”

The two EMT’s glanced at each other, they hated difficult patients.

     “Well your boss seems like he’s someone you wouldn’t want to piss off and he told you to be good Agent Morgan so you probably don’t want to make him angry.”

The ride to the hospital was a long one, Derek obeyed the EMT’s and behaved, leaving the oxygen mask on throughout the ride. They had stopped working on him and were more concerned with Reid than they had been when they left. They had suspected a concussion and were now almost sure of it, Reid’s eyes were slightly glassy and he kept almost falling asleep. When the two ambulances arrived at the hospital both Reid and Prentiss were wheeled away to be taken care of while Morgan was assessed by a young male doctor. He listened to Morgan’s lungs for several long minutes before announcing,

     “I’m going to have you sent down for a chest x-ray and order some blood work to be done to see the extent of the smoke inhalation. If it’s not severe I’d like you to remain on oxygen for a few more hours and then you can be discharged later today.”

Morgan nodded, relieved that he wouldn’t have to stay long. He knew the team just wanted to get home and not have to stay in this town after what had happened. 

     “Can you find out how my teammates are doing? Agent Emily Prentiss and Agent Spencer Reid, they were more seriously injured than I was.”

The doctor nodded, “I will do that in just a few minutes for you.” The doctor finished writing on Morgan’s chart before walking off to see what he could find out about his patient’s teammates. A few minutes of waiting and Derek was starting to get impatient, a bustle at the ER doors made him look up. The rest of his team was there, JJ came over and wrapped him in a gentle hug,

     “Are you okay? How are Emily and Spence?”

Derek nodded and was about to tell her that he was waiting to hear how they were when his doctor came back. The doctor looked indignant at all of the people crowding around Derek,

     “Excuse me, what are you all doing back here?”

Hotch frowned and replied, “We’re FBI, Agent Morgan is part of our team. We were seeing if he was alright and to check up on Agent’s Reid and Prentiss. Can you tell us their status?”

Hearing that these people were also FBI the doctor relaxed a little,

     “I just came back from seeing how they were. Agent Morgan also requested that I check their status. Agent Reid has a slight concussion and some bruised ribs, he’s also being treated for smoke inhalation. Agent Prentiss was sent for an x-ray but those haven’t come back yet. She has some cuts and quite a lot of bruises but other than that nothing too serious. They’ve demanded to be in the same room.”

Small smiles flitted around the group, after being separated during the hostage crisis they could understand them wanting to be close to each other. Hearing that two of his best friends got to be in a room together to comfort each other made Derek ask,

     “Is there room enough for me in there too? It’d be easier if we were all in one place right?”

The doctor glanced at his patient and heaved an internal sigh, he could see that this patient would not be happy about being separated from his friends.

     “It will be a little cramped but if you insist?”

Derek nodded and the doctor left to notify transporters to put Derek in with his friends after his own x-ray.

     “We’ll see you in a bit Morgan. We’ll go check on Reid and Prentiss and maybe get some take-out and you should be in their room by the time it’s ready.”

Derek smiled and was wheeled away by the transporters.

 

********

 

Emily was worried about Reid, she knew the doctor had said he had a concussion but she had never heard him be so quiet before. He lay in his hospital bed to her right but she couldn’t really turn on her side what with her messed up ribs. Her x-ray hadn’t come back yet but she was sure that at least one was broken. She turned her head carefully to look at Reid figuring that he would be asleep and she could calm her racing heart by watching to make sure he was okay. However, her teammate was awake, his eyes were open and he appeared to be studying the ceiling,

     “Hey, you okay?” Emily whispered. 

Reid turned his head to look at her and seeing her black eye and split lip turned away again, he felt guilt tearing at him. Instead of looking at her as he answered he replied while studiously looking at the ceiling.

     “Yeah, I’m okay. You?”

Emily could tell that something was wrong with Reid, she figured that he felt guilty about what had happened to her, he probably felt responsible. 

     “Hey Reid, look at me for a minute.” He turned his head in her direction but avoided meeting her eyes, she repeated, “Look at me Reid.” 

He met her eyes and as she focused on him she stated,

     “This was not your fault. I knew that you would have a better chance of getting through to Cyrus and learning all we could about him was the most important thing.” 

Tears had started to slip down Reid’s cheeks and he croaked,

     “I feel like I failed you.”

Emily reached out her arm as far as it would stretch and Reid reached out and grasped her fingers.

     “In no way did you fail me and I do not blame you, do you hear me?”

Reid squeezed her fingers and nodded. She guessed that if he had tried to respond verbally his voice would have cracked. She let go of his fingers as their teammates came into the room. JJ informed them that after Derek’s x-ray he too would be in their room at least over night while Reid and Morgan were treated. Rossi had left for take out from a nearby Chinese place a few minutes ago and they were all just resting after a hard case that had left them all shaken. Not long after that Emily’s doctor came in bearing x-ray sheets, apparently she hadn’t been informed that all of the BAU was packed into the two patients room and was surprised to see them all there. The doctor cleared her throat and said quietly,

     “I’m sorry to disturb you all but I have Agent Prentiss’ x-rays here. She’s got one broken rib and two that are severely bruised. I’m going to wrap them for her while she’s here and since your Agent Reid has to stay over night I would like to keep her here as well. Just as a precaution.” 

Everyone had been paying attention to Emily’s doctor and were relieved to hear that the damage was relatively minor, the doctor stood waiting by the door before realizing that she would have to verbally ask them to leave, they all seemed dead on their feet.

     “I think Agent Prentiss might like some privacy while I wrap her ribs…”

Getting the gist everyone but Reid left the room, JJ closing the door behind them. The doctor pulled the drape around Emily’s bed and proceeded to bandage Emily up which eased the ache in her side. The doctor inquired whether Emily needed stronger pain medication but knowing who was just behind the drapes Emily declined them. After the doctor left and the drape had been pulled back so that she and Reid could see each other he looked over at her,

     “You didn’t have to turn down narcotics just because I’m in the room Em. It wouldn’t have offended me.”

Emily smiled at the nickname but shook her head,

      “I don’t need them really. I feel better already now that they’re wrapped and regular tylenol will do just fine.”

It looked like Reid was going to say something else to her when the rest of the team came back in, now joined by Rossi, who had brought dinner back for everyone, and Morgan who was done with his x-rays. The food tasted heavenly too both Emily and Reid who hadn’t eaten for over twenty-four hours and even though everyone was happy and safe it was a relatively quiet dinner for them. The team stayed for a little while after dinner but were soon kicked out by a nurse who insisted that visiting hours were over. They reluctantly went to a nearby hotel leaving just Emily, Morgan and Reid. Reid dozed off soon after the team left and Emily and Morgan watched tv with the sound turned down low so as not to disturb him. 

 

********

 

The next morning, all three of them were released from the hospital and the team came from the hotel to pick them up and head to the jet. Emily suspected that Reid was still feeling guilty but didn’t get a chance to talk to him since the were in two separate SUV’s. Once they were on the jet, knowing it was going to be a long flight, Emily got out the chess set that was kept onboard for the two of them. No one else would play chess with Reid. Emily was glad that Reid often played with her, she was worried that after Gideon leaving in the way he did that the game would be ruined for him. A smile lit his face and they sat down to play, the rest of the team finding their own corners to read, sleep or listen to music. Emily was good enough to sometimes win against Reid but not always and today was no exception, Reid won after they had been playing for about an hour. Even though they hadn’t talked during the game Emily felt like things were better between them, she knew it could be all in her head but she suspected Reid wasn’t feeling as guilty anymore otherwise he wouldn’t have been so ruthless in defeating her. 

     “I’d like to play again but my head’s starting to hurt. I think I’m going to take a nap until we get home.” Reid said to her as he pulled the lever to recline his chair, Emily nodded and decided to do the same. A couple of hours later the jet landed and as the team disembarked Hotch announced,

     “Strauss has given us leave to each take 2 days off. Use it wisely.” 

Everyone’s mood brightened considerably at this news and as they headed to their cars there was chatter as to what they would do that weekend. Morgan stated that he was going to go out clubbing tonight and was trying to convince the rest of them to join him. Rossi and Hotch declined with a laugh, JJ stated that she just wanted to relax and go shopping with Penelope, Emily knew what she was going to do, she was going to go home and collapse. Everything hurt and she was still very tired. She gave a tentative yes about going out shopping with Penelope and JJ before slipping into her car and escaping home. After locking up she collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep still in her clothes.

 

********

 

Paradise

 

     Emily woke late that evening with her stomach growling. She was torn between hunger and the desperate need for a long soak in her tub. She got the hot water running and stripped out of the clothes she had slept in and tossed them in her hamper. She grabbed a jar of bath salts she had received from Penelope as a Christmas present and poured half the jar into the tub before sinking in herself, she knew her bandages would get wet but right now she didn’t care. When her skin was pruney and her muscles didn’t hurt quite so much she got out and put on her comfiest pajamas, they were so dorky with the cats wearing glasses that decorated them but the coziness outweighed that in her mind.  She grabbed her stack of take-out menus and flipped through them stopping at the menu for the Italian place down the street, she was craving lasagna and garlic bread. As she waited for the delivery guy she clicked on the tv, Animal Planet was on, Emily smiled. She hated daytime tv for the most part because it was usually soap operas and infomercials but she loved Animal Planet. Shortly thereafter the doorbell rang, she grabbed her wallet and headed to the door and pulled it open, 

     “Reid! What are you doing here?”

He sheepishly held up a tray of coffee and a package,

     “I figured you wouldn’t want to go out in public until the bruises healed so I brought you coffee and chocolate.”

Emily’s heart warmed at her friend’s thoughtfulness and opened the door wider and ushered him inside,

     “I thought you were the delivery person. I ordered a ton of lasagna and garlic bread, want to stay for dinner?”

Reid handed her the treats he had brought but shook his head,

     “No, I don’t want to intrude.”

Emily laughed and walked back into her living room,

     “You wouldn’t be intruding, I just invited you! Besides if I didn’t feed you you would probably forget.”

With a laugh Reid interjected,

     “I can feed myself Emily!”

Emily gave him a glance and snorted, the doorbell rang again and she went to answer it, throwing a comment too Reid over her shoulder,

     “Pick out a movie for us to watch.”

After paying the delivery guy Emily went to the kitchen and dished up two big helpings of lasagna and garlic bread. Entering the living room she saw that Reid had picked out a movie and had it all set up for them, she handed him a plate and then settled onto the couch. Reid took the chair to her left and pressed play on the remote.

     “What movie did you pick?”

     “Russian Ark, I haven’t seen it but heard it was good. Have you watched it?”

     “Sadly no, I have like this monthly movie thing where I pay a certain amount per month, select genres that I like and they send me movies but with how often we are gone I rarely get to watch them all.”

They dug into the food as the movie began, between the two of them they finished off the food rather quickly and then Emily broke open the chocolate. 

     “Mmm this is so good, where’d you get it?”

     “Whole Foods. Did you know that the average American consumes 4.5 kg of chocolate per year? And studies have shown that chocolate can help lower blood pressure and recently they think that consumption of chocolate helps in memory retention in older people.”

     “Are you implying that I’m getting old Reid?”

Emily looked over at him and Reid looked surprised and slightly hurt, he really couldn’t hide his feeling unless he was speaking to an unsub or playing poker.

     “Emily, I do not think you’re old.”

She heard the sincerity in his voice and internally she was warmed. She let the matter drop as the movie continued.

 

*******

 

     Emily woke feeling groggy with the sun shining on her face, everything hurt. She stood up and stretched and saw that Reid had left and wondered when he had snuck out. She started to shuffle into her kitchen to get some coffee and felt a crinkling under her foot. She bent down and picked up a note Reid must have left for her. It read,

_      Emily, you fell asleep watching the movie around 10. I finished it, you’d like it if you could stay up for the ending. I’m going to take your house key and lock the door behind me and then slip it under the door. Have a good day off!  _

_ Reid _

      Emily walked to her front door and saw her house key laying on the floor showing that Reid had done just as he said. She left her key and started getting ready to go out with JJ and Penelope, it would take her longer to get ready today with her soreness and covering up the bruises would take a long time. Around eleven JJ texted her that she was outside her building so she hobbled out grabbing her house key off the floor on the way.

 

***********

 

      A couple of weeks later Emily’s bruises were all healed and Reid wasn’t acting guilty anymore. The team hadn’t had a new case in a while which Emily was grateful for, it was nice to go home to her house every night and she actually got some of her movies watched. She had liked Russian Ark when she finished it like Reid had said. Sometimes she had had nightmares where she was still in the commune being beaten by Cyrus or where Reid or Morgan hadn’t made it out of the building in time, dreams like those woke her up in a cold sweat but eventually those too started to fade out. It was the end of another long day without a case when Reid entered the bullpen and asked,

     “Hey if you guys are hungry I know a pretty good Indian restaurant that’s open all night.”

     “I can’t, I have a date.” Emily announced.

Morgan glanced at his watch,

     “You got a date? With who?”

Smirking Emily replied, “My hot tub.”

Grinning Morgan said,

     “Now that sounds like a party!”

     “You’re _so_ not invited.”

 

*******

 

     They had been working on this case for several days before they caught the unsub, even though the area they were in was beautiful Emily couldn’t help but be skeeved out by the sheer distance between people. If you needed help in this remote of an area you would never reach it. She walked over to Reid and Rossi,

     “Roadside motels definitely go on my list of things never to do again.” At her statement Rossi nodded.

Confused Reid asked, 

     “You have a list?”

     “You don’t?” Rossi asked surprised. A thoughtful look crossed Reid’s face. Later on the plane Emily was reading a book JJ had recommended to her and she thought Reid had dozed off next to her until he said quietly,

     “I have a list.”

Emily turned to look at him,

     “You do? 

Reid nodded,

     “It’s not like yours and Rossi’s though. There are thousands of bad people in the world but that doesn’t mean it should stop you from doing something you might otherwise enjoy. I’m sure there are literally hundreds of places like this where the owners are nice normal people where couples could have a romantic getaway. My list is things like; don’t give into the cravings, don’t separate from my partner when going to interview someone, don’t piss off a religious psychopath, don’t leave my marksmanship training till the last minute…” Reid’s voice had cracked a little when he mentioned the cravings and Emily reached out and grasped his hand. 

     “I know this isn’t the same Reid but everyone struggles with cravings. After a particularly stressful day I still crave a cigarette even though I probably haven’t smoked in ten years.”

     “That’s probably why you bite your nails now as a replacement for the relief smoking a cigarette used to bring you.”

After a few minutes of holding hands where they each drew comfort from the other they let go, Emily went back to her book and Reid pulled his own tome out of his messenger bag. Several minutes later JJ suddenly moaned,

     “I want spicy food right now! How long until we’re home?”

     “About 2 hours and 16 minutes left JJ, sorry.” Reid answered.

A pout took over JJ’s face until Reid suggested, 

     “How about when we get closer to home we order carry out from my favorite Indian restaurant. It’s close to the airport and will be all ready when we get there?”

JJ smiled and grilled Reid on the restaurants menu which he knew to the letter, everyone else started throwing in their orders too and JJ wrote it down and tucked it away to order when they were closer to home.

     “Who’s house are we going to then?” Rossi asked.

     “Reid’s apartment isn’t big enough neither is Garcia’s, Jack will be sleeping when we get in so I vote either Derek’s, Rossi’s, or JJ’s place.” Hotch suggested. 

     “You can come over to mine since I’m the one that decided we needed all this food.” JJ said. Their plans finalized everyone settled back in for the rest of the flight. They landed and Hotch and Reid went to pick up the food while Morgan went to grab Garcia for their impromptu party, Rossi insisted that there be wine so he went to pick some up while Emily and JJ headed to her house. 

     “How’s Will going to feel about a BAU party in the middle of the night?” Emily asked JJ as the walked up to the front door.

     “Will’s actually in New Orleans at the moment visiting his mom and sister so this will be nice for me.”

Emily laughed as she helped JJ tidy up and get out plates and silverware, the first to arrive was Rossi bearing two bottles. The next to arrive was Morgan and Penelope who had been woken from a nap,

     “As much as I love you guys I get to keep more normal hours when I don’t have to go with you. So if I’m going to be woken up in the middle of the night I want some compensation.” 

Morgan laughed as Rossi handed Penople a large glass of wine and she admitted,

     “This will do. What are we drinking?”

     “What you have there is a 2001 Petterino Gattinara, I know you prefer Reds and I thought you would like the fruit tones in it.”

     “I do! I don’t often get to drink wine as good as this. Kevin doesn’t really like wine so we usually..”

Penelope was cut off when Hotch and Reid finally arrived with the food,

     “Food’s here!”

     “Yay! We’re in the dining room!” JJ called out. Everyone flocked to the room and proceeded to chow down on the delicious Indian food. After the meal JJ leaned back in her chair and sighed,

     “Thank you so much Reid for suggesting this. It was just what I needed!”

Reid flapped his hand at her,

     “It was nothing, I’d been craving food from this place before the case so me and the kid decided to conspire against you.”

Everyone laughed, they could just see Reid suggesting prank ideas to a little baby and asking for it’s input. Later that night or rather early that morning when everyone was ready to go home and crash and people were heading to their cars there was some discussion as to who would drive Reid home, 

     “I’d take him home but his place is in the opposite direction of my house.” Rossi admitted.

     “Chocolate Thunder has to drop me off at my palace but we can give Genius a lift.” Penelope announced as she clung to Morgan, she had had rather a lot of the wine Rossi had brought. 

     “Nah, I got him. He lives closer to me.” Emily reminded everyone. Reid smiled at her and got into the passenger seat,

     “Thanks Emily.”

Emily smiled as they headed out, Reid turned on the radio and set it to a Russian opera that she didn’t know off the top of her head but she could make out 80% of the words and was enjoying the storyline, something about a man named Ivan and him giving his life for his country during some war, Emily was too tired to pay more attention to it. When she pulled up to Reid’s apartment building, before he unfolded his long legs from the car she said,

     “You can thank me for the ride by bringing me coffee tomorrow Genius.”

Reid laughed and said,

     “Alright goodnight Em! See you tomorrow!”

He shut the door and started up the walk to his building, Emily rolled down the window and called out,

     “Do you even know how I like my coffee?”

Reid’s only response was to turn and tap the side of his head, Emily laughed taking that as a sign that he remembered and would get it right tomorrow.


	2. Catching Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set during and after the episode Catching Out. Hope you enjoy!

      It was a normal morning in the bullpen, Emily and Reid were teasing Derek about not knowing the name of a girl he had probably already been with. Amused but also perplexed Reid asked,

     “You’ve been with so many girls you can’t remember their names?”

  
Emily scoffed,

     “Oh come on are you surprised?”

Still confused Derek admitted,

     “This has never happened to me before!”

     “It hasn’t happened to me before either.” Reid states.

     “Well it can’t happen to you. You have an eidetic memory. Besides, I bet you are much more a of a gentleman than this heathen.” Emily says as she jerks her thumb at Derek while the three of them headed to the conference room. Something about her comment must have touched a nerve in Derek because his next comment was rather mean,

     “Besides, you only got one name to remember!”

     He shot at Reid who laughed it off as JJ began to go over the case file. They were soon headed to the jet to fly out to California. As soon as Reid sat down he pulled out the materials to work on the geographical profile, with the different homicides occurring in such a widespread area it would be difficult for him to get an understanding of the unsubs safety zone, there would literally be hundreds of square miles where he could be and unfortunately until there were more bodies he wouldn’t be able to narrow it down enough to help them.

     The next day when Rossi figured out how the unsub was moving across such great distances so quickly Reid was disappointed in himself, he should have seen it. He was still mad at himself later when Emily called, she had driven over night from Modesto to the city where the command center was. She must have heard something in his voice because after they were done discussing theories about the case she inquired,

     “Hey, what’s wrong?”

     “Nothing’s wrong..”

     “Yes there is, remember I know you.”

     “I missed the fact that the unsub was hopping trains, I should have seen it.”

     “You’re not perfect Reid, you can’t know everything. Don’t be too hard on yourself okay?”

     “Alright Em, I’ll try.”

     They hung up and Reid called Garcia to have her look for other homicides that might be connected. When Emily arrived not long afterwards Reid took one look at her and said,

     “You had the sunroof open didn’t you?”

Emily sent him a sharp look,

     “How did you know that?”

     “You have a slight sunburn on your forehead and cheeks that wasn’t there yesterday.”

Emily laughed, only Reid would notice such minute details about her like that.

     “You should be careful, a person’s risk of getting melanoma doubles if they have had five or more sunburns. Even a sunscreen with an SPF of 15 would prevent most sunburns unless you were out in strong sun for an extended period of time.”

Later that day when it was just him and Emily in the conference room Emily couldn’t help but ask,

     “You considering it?” She watched Reid’s face closely to see if he gave any subconscious cues that told her the truth.

     “Considering what?” Reid asked not knowing what she meant.

     “Having baby geniuses?” She clarified. Reid looked contemplative but the phone rang just then and interrupted their conversation. Garcia provided them with the missing piece of the puzzle, the unsub was a migrant farm worker that was hopping trains between stops. Emily didn’t get a chance to ask Reid again but the question burrowed into her brain for later.

     Reid’s heart had stuttered when Emily had asked him whether he had ever thought about having children, he had thought about it but not intensely. More in the mind wandering way, he thought he would make a better dad than his own father but he wasn’t sure. Then there were his worries about his genetics, he didn’t want to subject a child to the hazards of schizophrenia. It had been immeasurably hard on him when he was growing up and trying to take care of his Mom at the same time. He was past the most likely age of onset but that didn’t mean he was in the clear either. He couldn’t linger on these thoughts for too long, they still had an unsub to catch.

     When the case was finally over and they had made it back to Virginia it was late in the evening, Emily, Morgan and Reid were headed out the door. Rossi and Hotch both had too much paperwork to leave early. The three of them were headed to the elevator when Reid asked,

     “You guys have plans tonight?”

     “I was thinking about getting a burger.” Morgan said.

     “Oh, I could eat.” Emily admitted.

     Their plan making was cut short when they met Jordan Todd and then their teasing of Morgan about her meant that he left without them. Emily knocked her elbow into Reid’s side gently,

     “Still hungry?”

     “Kinda yeah, still want a burger?” Emily nodded emphatically as they got on the elevator. When they reached her car a question popped into Reid’s head that he had never really thought to ask before,

     “How come on cases everyone but me drives?”

      Emily mulled it over, it was true that Reid never drove on cases even though he obviously could drive. He had the most adorable antique car, she remembered the last time there had been an antique car convention nearby he and Penelope had gone to it together.

      “I don’t know why. Habit I guess? Possibly something to do with personality types. Derek and Hotch are such alpha types that whenever we’re in the big cars it’s always one of them driving but other than that I don’t know.”

     “I’ve been driving since I was twelve.” Reid admitted.

     “Really, that young?”

Reid nodded, Emily could tell that he was either nervous or ashamed because he was twisting his fingers.

     “I used to drive my Mom to her doctor appointments, I was worried that she would have an episode while she was driving.”

     “You guys were never pulled over by the cops?”

      “Nevada allows window tinting on vehicles. The front windows only have to let in 35% of light, back windows and rear window can be completely tinted.”

      It didn’t take them long to reach the bar the team frequented, it had good food, good beer and dancing. They didn’t grab their usual table, it would be much too large with just the two of them. Emily ordered a burger, fries and a beer. Reid ordered nachos and a side salad.

     “You always do that.. why?” Emily asked as the waitress left.

     “Order something unhealthy and healthy at the same time?” Emily nodded,

     “Well when I was growing up most of the time my Mom couldn’t take care of herself and she certainly couldn’t take care of me. When my Dad was still around he would make whatever was easiest but he’d try to have one healthy thing with our meals. Then when he left I didn’t know how to cook very much so my meals tended to be very unhealthy but I always ate one healthy thing too. It helped me sort of pretend I guess that everything was alright. Now it’s just a habit.”

     Emily was silent, she almost wished she hadn’t asked because it made her sad to hear the truth of it. The waitress came back with Emily’s beer and asked Reid if he wanted a drink as well, Emily could see him hesitating and then he asked,

     “Can I have a shot of fireball?” The waitress nodded and walked off to get it. Emily didn’t say anything but she was surprised, Reid normally didn’t order shots.

     Not long after their food arrived and they chatted about all sorts of things while they ate; movies, books, criminals they’d be interested in interviewing. It was getting late and both of them had had several drinks but not enough to incapacitate them, they had paid their tabs and were walking out when a slow song came over the speakers. Emily stopped and reached out to tug Reid back,

     “Hey, let’s dance.”

     “Aw Emily, I hate when you guys make me dance. I bet no one here will want to dance with me.”

Emily grabbed Reid’s hands and said,

     “I didn’t say I wanted to dance with other people.”

      She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rested her head against his chest as they swayed gently to the music, they stayed through several more slow songs before the usual dance music was back and they then decided to leave. Emily was going to just drop Reid off at home but she found that when she reached his apartment she didn’t feel like being alone, she was worried about being rude and therefore didn’t invite herself up . Reid paused as he was getting out of the car and turned to ask,

     “Do you want to watch a movie?”

Emily smiled internally, “Sure, that sounds good.”

      Emily had not been in Reid’s apartment often, it was too small for him to entertain more than one or two people at a time. She liked his place though, instead of cramped it seemed cozy. Bookshelves lined the living room walls, stuffed with interesting looking books and what wouldn’t fit on the shelves was stacked in neat piles on the available surfaces, there was a slightly worn looking leather sofa, a medium sized tv, a coffee table and several lamps to complete the room.

      “Make yourself comfortable. Want some popcorn?”

     “Sure.”

      Reid went off into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with popcorn and sodas. He handed Emily a soda and she took a seat on the couch as Reid sat down next to her. Between the two of them they settled on an old black and white movie that Emily had never seen before but Reid insisted she had to watch, The Ghost Breakers with Bob Hope. Emily found herself pulled into the cute little movie and when it was over Emily wished it were earlier in the night so that they could watch another but it was now truly late and she needed some sleep. Reid walked her to the door, Emily turned to say goodnight and when she saw Reid framed in his doorway, backlit by the golden light from his living room an internal switch was flicked inside of her brain. A rush of affection for this man flooded her heart and she reached out and pulled him into an unexpected hug.

      “Goodnight Reid.”

      “Night Em, let me know when you get home safely.”

      “I will.”

Emily drove home feeling warm and happy and when she was safely in her brownstone and pulling pajamas on she sent Reid a quick text,

      _I’m home safely, goodnight Genius! ~ E.P._

_Thanks, goodnight Em! Sleep well :) ~ S.R._

Spencer lay back in his bed relieved that Emily had made it home safely, not long after he fell into a deep dreamless sleep.


	3. The Instincts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during the episode The Instincts. I'm slowly starting to move Emily and Reid along, hopefully you can see that they're starting to rely on each other more and more. I love writing about these two!

     They were flying out to Las Vegas to hopefully catch a child killer, cases like this everyone knew they were going to be tough just going in. Emily glanced over and saw that Reid was passed out on the couch, his eyes were moving back and forth rapidly beneath his eyelids. She wondered what he was dreaming about, she had to wake him up though so they could discuss the case. She called his name several times and he woke up with a jolt sitting up suddenly,

     “Sorry I was dreaming.”

     “Ha, no kidding!” Emily replied. Reid started to explain his dream hoping to gain some insight as to why he might have had it but when Morgan started going on about dream analysis Reid shut it down.

     “Maybe you’re just stressed out about going home to Las Vegas. Did you tell your Mom you’re coming?”

     “Why aren’t we reviewing the case file?” Reid asked with a perplexed look on his face. Emily snorted and said,

     “I don’t know. Maybe because someone fell asleep on the jet.”

     Hotch cut the teasing of Reid short and got them back to business so that the team would be prepared when they landed. Hotch and JJ went to talk to the family of the latest missing boy, Reid and Morgan to the morgue to view the body of the first child, and Emily and Rossi went to the scene where the first boy was discovered. Reid wished this detail had been assigned to someone else, seeing this tiny body laid out on the coroner's table made the world incredibly bleak in his mind. This little boy should be off playing with his friends or at home with his family with his Mom and Dad there to spoil him and help him grow but now he never would. The fact that he had been receiving nourishment from some unknown method intrigued and confused Reid, he felt like if he could figure that piece out it would be a major break in the case but he had no idea. When he met the parents of the new missing boy that was difficult for him as well, visions of the boy he had just seen in the morgue kept popping up on his head and he really hoped that that would not happen to their son. Reid considered himself an agnostic but he prayed fervently that they would find Michael before anything happened to him. Michael’s parents went upstairs to rest although Reid knew it was unlikely that they would get any real sleep and Morgan turned to him,

     “Do you want first or second shift?”

     “Do you mind if I take second? I’m really tired.”

     “Nah, go ahead and get some sleep kid.”

     Reid settled down on the couch but it took him a while to fall asleep after his disturbing dreams from the earlier nap and then the case, both weighing heavily on his mind. When he finally did fall asleep it was into more confusing nightmares of leeches sucking his blood and when he woke everyone up screaming he was extremely embarrassed. When the Bridges went back upstairs Reid told Morgan that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep again and that Morgan should take his turn resting now, Morgan stared at Reid trying to discern what was going on with his friend but was frustrated by what he saw and turned to flop back on the couch. Reid wandered into the dining room and pulled out his cell phone checking the time, it was just after 2 am. He saw that Emily had texted him about an hour ago and he hopefully texted her,

_      You still up? ~ S.R. _

_      Yep, what’s up? ~ E.P. _

_      I had more weird dreams, woke up Michael’s parents with my yelling.. Am I allowed to bang my head against the wall? ~ S.R. _

Emily’s heart constricted reading the text, she hated that this was happening to Reid of all people, could he never catch a break? She replied quickly,

_      Do you want to talk about your dream? ~ E.P. _

_      Not right now, maybe later. ~ S.R. _

Emily sighed, she wished that Reid would open up to her about what was bothering him but maybe he didn’t even know what was at the root of his uneasiness. She typed back,

_      I know you don’t like dream analysis but you might want to check out Carl Jung’s theories about it. Goodnight Reid. ~ E.P. _

_      Goodnight Emily. ~S.R. _

     Reid opened up the laptop Morgan had brought and proceeded to spend several hours reading all of Jung’s work on dream analysis that was available online. There were things that had merit in his work and Reid began to ponder what they meant in relation to his dreams. The next morning when the team met up to attend the funeral of the first victim, Emily handed Reid a coffee that she had gotten on her way and he took a deep gulp and murmured,

     “Thank you.”

     “You’re welcome, how are you this morning?” Emily asked Reid as she took his elbow as they walked back towards the car for the funeral. Reid opened the door for her and replied quietly,

     “A little better, thank you for suggesting I look into Jung.”

     “No problem, I’m glad it helped.”

The ride to the cemetery was quiet, no one felt like speaking, they all were hoping that they would not have to go to another little boy’s funeral in a couple of days. 

     At the cemetery Morgan stood next to Reid, silently offering moral support to his friend, when Reid turned to him and whispered that he had been here before Morgan was internally disturbed. Something from his friends past was coming back to haunt him and he didn’t know what. When Morgan had a chance he asked one of the detectives to look into suspicious deaths of young boys from the area around the time that Reid was growing up, Morgan didn’t know if they would find anything but a few minutes later the detective handed him a file. Morgan flipped through it and what he read seemed to fit into Reid’s nightmares, he hesitated about whether he should show Reid but it was taken out of his hands when Reid asked him about it. Hearing that Reid had had an imaginary friend with the same name as the dead boy made Morgan pause, he went on to explain the case to Reid hoping that it was just a coincidence but not really believing it, things were fitting together too well to have been a coincidence. They were interrupted when Emily and Rossi were finally making headway with the suspect, and then their hopes were dashed, he didn’t know that Ethan Hayes hadn’t been molested, he wasn’t their suspect.

     Later when the team was listening to the second call from the kidnapper, Reid’s mind leapt to something they hadn’t considered before, the unsub was a woman! When Reid suggested that he might know someone who could help the rest of the team was relieved, they agreed that giving the profile to the hospital administrators was smart and probably the quickest option. Since Reid knew the staff very well at his mother’s hospital he went and delivered it, figuring he could visit his Mom while he was there. When his Mom insinuated that she could feel what he was feeling Reid was unnerved but decided to put it out of his mind. He decided to ask his mom some questions about Riley while he was there,

     “Did I know a boy named Riley Jenkins?” 

     As he explained what was going on to his Mom she became scared and agitated, he was going to try and press her for more on why she had felt that he was in danger when the administrator came back and apologized for not finding anyone that matched. His own Mom provided the missing piece of the puzzle when she said,

     “I went off my medication when I was pregnant with you.”

     Reid realized that the woman they were searching for must have just given birth and that the reason why the medical examiner was so confused was because she was breastfeeding the boys she had abducted. He called Hotch and shared the realization with him, Reid finally had hope that they might find this child alive. Garcia worked her magic and found the identity of the woman from the video, the team left from the Bridges house and Reid from the hospital. He flicked on the sirens on the SUV hoping that they arrived in time. 

     Reid arrived minutes after the team, he didn’t know where they were or whether they had cleared the house so he started clearing it, checking room by room, finding nothing. Reid had cleared every room except for one at the very back of the house, he didn’t know what he would find behind the closed door but he sent up a silent prayer that it wouldn’t be Michael Bridges body. He opened the door and there standing in the room was Michael, over the radio he notified the team that he had the boy safely. Then he knelt and wrapped the boy in a hug, relieved to have found him safe and unharmed. He carried the boy out to the living room and sat down with him on the couch, Michael was crying and Reid rubbed his upper back gently and said,

     “Your Mom and Dad will be here soon Michael. They really missed you while you were gone.”

Emily and Rossi stepped into the living room and Reid looked up and asked quietly,

     “Did you get her?”

     “Yeah kid, we got her.” Rossi sighed. 

Emily sat down next to Reid and Michael on the couch and said,

     “His parents are on their way here.” 

Reid smiled at her and continued to rub Michael’s back and rock him gently until he calmed down. His little face peeped out from Reid’s neck and he whispered,

     “I’m hungry.”

“I know you are buddy and really soon you’ll be able to eat anything you want but the doctors have to check you out okay?”

     Michael nodded, Emily figured that now that he was done crying he would crawl out of Reid’s lap but he seemed happy where he was and pretty soon Reid was showing him how he could make a coin disappear and reappear. Michael was fascinated by the trick and after watching Reid do it a dozen times, he insisted that Reid show him how. Emily’s heart felt full, happily watching the interactions between them, she so hoped that someday Reid would get the chance to be a father. She had heard rumors about the Reid Effect but if it had ever been true it seemed to have gone away because this young boy had instantly connected with him. A few minutes later Hotch walked in and said,

     “His parents are here.” 

     Reid put Michael down and ruffled his hair before Hotch led him out to his parents who swept him into a crushing hug. Reid stood and watched from the doorway with a slight smile on his face, Emily came up next to him and took his hand,

     “You did really good today Reid.”

     “Thanks Em.” Reid smiled at her before walking out of the house.

     That night after the team had gone out to dinner, they were back at the hotel sharing a few more drinks. JJ had gone up to bed a while ago and eventually Hotch and Rossi left too leaving just Emily and Morgan, Reid was spending time with his Mom. The conversation had lagged a little and they were just sitting in comfortable silence when Morgan asked her,

     “Has Reid talked to you about what’s going on with him?”

     “You mean his nightmares? Some.” Emily replied hesitantly, unsure if it was right for the two of them to discuss it without him here.

     “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

     Morgan went on to explain about the Riley Jenkins case and his theory that Reid had heard about the case as a young boy and it had influenced his decision to join the Bureau. Emily felt deep misgivings hearing about this unsolved case and she knew in her soul that they weren’t done with it yet. She tried to ask casually,

     “Can I look at the file?” 

     Morgan pulled it out of his messenger bag and handed it to her, she flipped through it but realized that she wouldn’t be able to read it in front of Morgan. He’d be watching her to see what she thought of it and she wasn’t comfortable with that idea. She excused herself for the evening and went up to her room where she poured over the file for a few hours. Eventually she set it aside and clicked on the tv to try and calm down, she glanced at the mini bar and decided that after their day she deserved to relax a little and went and grabbed a few of the tiny bottles.

 

*************

 

     Reid was happy that he had decided to visit his Mom after the case, he thanked Dr. Norman again for his help with the case before going over to see her. When she could tell that they had saved the boy just by intuition he was surprised and after Dr. Norman had left to give them some privacy his Mom asked,

     “So who’s the girl you’re seeing?”

Extremely confused Reid said to his Mom,

     “I’m not seeing anyone right now Mom.”

     “Well then you have a crush on someone or your feelings for someone have changed.”

Reid searched his mind to see what he could have written his Mom to make her think this, with a start he replied,

     “Emily and I have been spending more time together but that’s all Mom. We’re just friends and colleagues.”

Diana hummed noncommittally at her son's’ statement and Reid huffed,

     “Really Mom, we’re just friends!”

Diana let it drop for the time being but she was certain that her son had feelings for this Emily that he kept mentioning in his letters to her.

     Later that night when Reid was attempting to fall asleep on the couch in his Mom’s room he kept mulling over in his mind what his mother had said. He didn’t really think he had been mentioning Emily more than usual but maybe he better lay off on writing about her so that his Mom didn’t get the wrong idea. He decided to put it out of his mind for now and try to get some sleep, he just hoped that he didn’t have another nightmare tonight.


End file.
